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Sometimes the easy explanation is the correct one. And sometimes the easy explanation is … too easy.
The too-easy explanation for the Cubs’ failures in 2003 and 2004 is that manager Dusty Baker wasn’t good at his job, that he ruined the arms of Kerry Wood and Mark Prior, and that, whenever a crime against baseball was committed anywhere, there was only one person of interest.
A better explanation is that the Marlins, who beat the Cubs in the 2003 National League Championship Series, were loaded with talent and were the better team.